


Unbroken Vow

by kelleigh (girlfromcarolina)



Series: Seasons [2]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Aromantic Character, Brief Descriptions of Sex, Don't copy to another site, Established Infidelity, Established Relationship, Extramarital Affairs, F/M, Hopeful Ending, Infidelity, M/M, Marriage, Married Couple, Travel, Valentine's Day, Who doesn't yet identify as Aro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:14:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22744594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlfromcarolina/pseuds/kelleigh
Summary: Alexis accepts a ticket on Jensen’s behalf and tells the resort manager that she’s good friends with a world-class restaurateur who could provide advice and priceless publicity.Twenty minutes later, she has two confirmed suites for Valentine's Day weekend and three plane tickets.
Relationships: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Seasons [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1634383
Comments: 6
Kudos: 57





	Unbroken Vow

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Be Mine: Valentine's Day Prompt Meme]() at Livejournal. My prompt was _J1 is on a romantic getaway with his partner for the holiday, but that doesn't stop him from celebrating with his real Valentine_ and I couldn't help but think of Jensen, Jared, and Alexis and what they were doing now.
> 
> This is told from Alexis' point of view, something I've never shown before. The infidelity is established and accepted by Alexis who I believe is aromantic, though she doesn't identify herself as such.

The most talked-about new Caribbean resort is planning a grand opening celebration in early March. Alexis Ackles’ agent made sure she was at the top of the list of invitees when the resort manager reached out regarding a soft opening over Valentine’s Day. The guest list is second to none: a select group of travel experts, bloggers, and influencers.

“Alexis A. Broad” has half a million followers and a glowing reputation. Over the phone, the resort manager praises her work and asks if she knows anyone else who would be interested in the opportunity to fly down. Alexis’ husband, the manager jokes, is also welcome to join her. Free of charge, of course. Alexis hadn’t brought up Jensen—it’s been almost two weeks since they communicated in more than text messages—but anyone looking at her accounts would know his name and face.

She accepts a ticket on Jensen’s behalf and tells the manager that she’s good friends with a world-class restaurateur who could provide advice and priceless publicity.

Twenty minutes later, she has two confirmed suites and three plane tickets.

+++++

Jared Padalecki was summertime. He was the innocent exhilaration of building forts in the woods, endless hours of sunshine and sweet freedom. When they were young, Jared embodied potential and wonder. There was a time when Alexis imagined them together, building their fantasy castles and ruling over their little forest forever.

Meeting Jensen Ackles was like the first full breath of winter, a refreshing and bracing chill. He was beautiful, eerily perfect. Mysterious, powerful, and charismatic. Having sex with Jensen was the best Alexisa had ever known, and it was easy to fall into an addiction that felt like love.

But summer would always fade into nostalgia and winter drove warmth away. Alexis had never preferred one season over another. If she wanted to feel fall’s crisp bite or see the new buds of spring, all she needed to do was get on a plane and escape.

+++++

The island is breathtaking. This resort provides the kind of luxury that goes well beyond what Alexis is used to: personal beach cabanas, secluded suites built over a shallow lagoon with crystal blue water, amenities at every turn. Their itinerary is made up of resort-sponsored events—the kind that make for good photo ops and selfies—decadent meals and cocktail hours, natural tours, and private beach time. Jensen begs off a number of the scheduled events, claiming that he brought his work along for a reason. Jared is whisked off numerous times by the head chef to visit the three on-site restaurants and discuss menus.

The suites are lavish. Expensive bedding, floor-to-ceiling windows that open up into the lagoon, private decks, and jacuzzi tubs. There are tropical flower petals on their bed, courtesy of the resort. Alexis and Jensen fuck in the bedroom and the bathroom, testing their flexibility, and once in a cabana with the curtains drawn. When they’re not having sex, they take photos together at dinner, walk hand-in-hand on the beach listening to the waves while not saying a word to each other.

Alexis’ blog and curated Instagram feed will portray them as the ideal vision of romance, and the resort as a tropical paradise for lovers. In reality, they spend more time apart than they do together.

Three years ago, the separation would have bothered her. These days, she’s come to terms with the idea that her marriage is anything but traditional.

While Alexis spends the morning lounging on the beach and working on her next article, she sees her husband strolling the white sand with Jared beside him. Later on, she’s having a pre-dinner cocktail with a writer from _Travel + Leisure_ when she catches Jared walking out of the restaurant’s kitchen with two boxes of food, heading for his lagoon suite. Alexis hasn’t seen Jensen all afternoon, and he wasn’t in their suite when she went back to change.

She tells people that Jensen isn’t feeling well when his absence is noted at dinner. Alexis wouldn’t have invited Jared along if she didn’t understand and accept the complications.

On Valentine’s Day, Alexis wakes up and sees Jensen stepping out of the bathroom, freshly showered. The space beside Alexis is cold, the sheets undisturbed, though that doesn’t stop her from reaching out and welcoming him into her arms. Afterwards, they hit the beach together, playing the role of a devoted couple along with the other partnered guests. When Jensen asks if he can skip lunch and the chartered snorkeling cruise that afternoon, Alexis agrees. It will give her more time to continue working on her article.

Somewhere in the resort, Jared must be waiting for her husband. Maybe in a secluded cabana with the curtains closed, or in his own suite, laid out naked on the king-sized bed, bronze skin against snow white Egyptian cotton.

+++++

Alexis wasn’t supposed to return from her latest European tour for another week. This impromptu trip home was meant to be a surprise for Valentine’s Day: a romantic, spur-of-the-moment weekend for the two of them.

She made it as far as the back porch, the one Jared had been helping Jensen rebuild for the last few months, before she stopped short at the scene she could see unfolding on the other side of the patio doors.

Jared, her childhood friend and best man at her wedding, on his knees on the living room floor. Naked, sweating, in rapture. Jensen behind him, fucking him with a rhythm Alexis recognized down to her core. The look on her husband’s face was different from the one she saw when they were having sex: more vulnerable, yet completely consumed. They never looked up, never saw her slack-jawed and staring through the glass; they had eyes only for each other.

She turned around and left in a daze, walked back to the rental parked on the street. The next hour was a blur. Alexis came back to herself in the first class cabin of a flight bound for Frankfurt, apparently the only international flight she could get on short notice. There were no missed calls on her phone when she checked, no frantic text messages begging for her forgiveness.

Alexis had come home to save her marriage, because her mother and her sister swore up and down that she traveled too much. That Jensen deserved more of her time despite never demanding it. Her mother had urged her to reconnect with Jensen, devote herself to him to make up for the weeks she’d been away. This trip was supposed to tell her if their marriage was worth saving. 

That’s exactly what it did.

On the plane, she worked her way through three mini bottles of whiskey and waited for the anger to overtake her, but it never came. By the time the plane landed in Germany, all Alexis felt was relief. Jensen _had_ someone. He wasn’t alone. And when Alexis was home, Jensen was a good husband. Whether it was sex, social outings, photos for her blog, Jensen was there when she needed him. She’d seen him with Jared for only a moment, yet she knew instinctively that it wasn’t a new arrangement. That Jared and Jensen meant something to one another. How could Alexis be angry when they both meant so much to her, too?

She disembarked the plane in Frankfurt still wearing her wedding rings. When Jensen called her later that night, she pretended as if nothing had happened.

+++++

Alexis spends the rest of Valentine’s Day snorkeling, eating, and drinking with the other elite guests, laughing and lamenting the absence of their partners who needed to ‘work’ or ‘rest’. The romance is best left to Jared and Jensen, wherever they are. After all, it’s been their day in Alexis’ mind ever since she caught them together years ago.

If anyone knew what Jensen was doing with Jared, they would likely blame her. Alexis’ mother would have a conniption at her inability to hold onto a man. None of that matters to her anymore. To this day, Alexis loves Jensen, but marriage wasn’t what she expected. The loudest part of her conscience didn’t want to stay home for the sake of making it work. As far as she’s concerned, this is _how_ she’s making it work.

Jared and Jensen are happy. Alexis is doing what she wants, though there have been times when it feels like she’s the _other woman_ intruding on a healthy relationship. When she’s home between trips, it’s as if she’s forcing Jensen to cheat on Jared. Those feelings fade within a few days of being around one another again, and disappear as soon as she’s jetting off to her next destination.

Before dinner, Alexis winds her way along the beach towards her room. As she steps up on the raised walkway leading to the extravagant huts, her eyes fall on Jensen coming out of Jared’s suite. Jared is there at the door, pulling her husband in for another kiss. Before she realizes what she’s doing, Alexis is raising her phone to snap a picture.

She wishes she could post it: the composition, the tropical colors of the lagoon behind them as the sun begins to set, the love that radiates between the two men. It’s all perfect. Jealousy is the last emotion she can feel at this moment. 

Alexis hurries back down the beach before they can see her, waiting a few minutes before approaching again. When she enters the room, Jensen is already there getting dressed for dinner. He pulls her in, kisses her on the cheek, and tells her how much the trip has meant to him.

It doesn’t occur to her what Jensen was trying to say until they’re at dinner and Alexis sees the thick, gunmetal band Jared’s wearing on his right middle finger. The three of them are sharing a table for the final night of the trip, champagne passed out to all of the resort’s guests, and Jared is telling Jensen and Alexis all about his work with the head chef, how he’s been invited to consult with the resort owner on other properties. He wasn’t wearing the ring the last time Alexis saw him, but she has no doubt what it means.

There’s a part of her filled with sadness at the idea that their arrangement may have an expiration date. Fortunately, Alexis has grown enough in the last eight years of marriage to know that she can handle whatever comes next.

She raises her glass and toasts to Jared’s future success. Jared blushes and wishes them a happy Valentine’s Day, though his eyes are on Jensen’s when their flutes touch.

Alexis sighs and lets the moment wash over her, Jensen’s hand reaching for hers under the table.

Valentine’s Day may look different for all three of them next year, but that’s a problem for another night. 

**FIN**


End file.
